U-M started a web page with an interactive map with the changes they're planning for the various facilities on South Campus.

As we relentlessly strive to be the Leaders and Best, we must continue to challenge ourselves to be better. We want our student-athletes to have the best facilities and resources. We want to compete for championships in all 29 sports. Embracing this challenge, we took a look at every facility and every sport and identified the greatest priorities. We have now created a comprehensive plan that will impact all of our student-athletes and elevate Michigan Athletics to a new level of excellence. Our plan is called South Campus.

Didn't they just do a major weight room renovation when that one guy came in as the new head coach? Or are the S&C upgrades being made to a different facility (used by athletes other than football players)?

I tihnk the idea here is to create two centralized weight rooms for all the teams that don't (or wont, after these changes) have dedicated workout facilities. Football has one, the basketball team now has one, wrestling and hockey have theirs, but I think that's it.

It looks like this facility will be on South Campus and probably be used mostly by soccer and lacrosse.

New Strength & Conditioning Facilities

We are going to create an impressive, innovative, and envied Athletic Training Facility in two centralized locations. One will be housed right next to the administration building and will allow strength and conditioning access to athletes on the north end of South Campus while the other will be located on the south end."

I can say that for all of DB misgivings, the man definitely has a knack for identifying the facilities that need to be upgraded. I am very impressed with what is being proposed here, especially the new multi-purpose facility for volleyball/wrestling, and gymnastics.

Cliff Keen was nice, but after spending many seasons in the student section there, it was obvious that the facility wasn't fitting for a national contending program. On the plus side, it was so nice to be able to yell at the opposing teams and have the ladies only be 15 feet away.

Also, the swimming facility looks absolutely fantastic. I don't know how they are going to pay for all this though...

Isn't DB just picking up where Bill Martin left off? All the current facility renovations (UM Stadium, Crisler, Fisher, etc.) save Yost were planned and financed on Martin's watch. I realize Bill is the popular punching bag amongst fans with the Rodriguez debacle, but one mistake he didn't make was ignoring improvements to the Athletic Department infrastructure.

As for how this will all be funded, I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of building's with rich alumni names on them a la the Al Glick Field House.

It's interesting that the description for the "new multi-purpose arena" says "gymnastics"--not "men's gymnastics." Does that indicate that women's gymnastics team events will move from Crisler to this new arena? I had thought with the addition of the curtain to Crisler that they would continue to compete there. The capacity at Cliff Keen was only 1,800, so I'm also wondering what the capacity of this new arena will be. Attendance at women's gymnastics meets is typically much larger than 1,800.

Doesn't it make sense to have the track facilities, indoor, outdoor, lockers, offices, all in one spot? And isn't more parking needed for Hockey as well as non-revenue sports? Granted, it would be nice to keep Ferry field, but I'm not sure how.

It looks like the walk of champions will run between the baseball and softball fields, right by Schembechler Hall, and out to State Street. That will take a lot of foot traffic off of stadium. I'd bet that the hall of fame will be packed before and after games too.

There used to be a very large amount of foot traffic going that way, before Oosterbaan and other clutter chopped it all up. There was the old high brick wall surrounding the old practice football field, with a portal in the far side.

I reread Soderstrom's book on Yost building the Big House on my flights to/from Dallas (sigh) and a big thing that Yost tried to do was "athletics for all" as in normal students, not just the scholarship athletes.

The Walk of Champions looks like an awesome addition. I mean, I remember as a student, going to an early basketball game, and then having to scramble to get across the athletic campus to hit up a hockey game at Yost and being totally baffled that there wasn't a more direct way to get there than having to go all the way around to Hoover. Yep, something that has totally to do with logistics is one of the most exciting things of these improvements to me.

I'm really happy for our future (current too?) student-athletes. They're going to have the best facilities in the country.

If you leave Crisler and head straight down through the parking lot toward Glick, there's a driveway that ends at the football practice fields after crossing the railroad tracks. From there, you can go left toward softball/baseball and Yost, or head toward field hockey by turning right. That being said, this will make things much more convenient.

Just Wow! Looks amazing. I definitely like the idea of replacing Cliff Keen, it was too small for most big volleyball matches. The golf course restoration and club house upgrade will be really nice and can be used and appreciated by all students.

I assume that to get to 29 sports, they are counting Indoor Track & Field as a separate sport from Outdoor Track & Field. They're the same sport for the purpose of counting scholarships (i.e., there are not separate scholarships for indoor & outdoor track), but they have separate seasons and separate Big Ten & NCAA championships.

That's the only way I can see them getting to 29--Michigan competes for 29 NCAA championships (well...28 plus football, which doesn't have an NCAA championship).

This looks awesome! The Walk of Champions looks great and will hopefully make that area look like more than a parking lot.

Buuuuuut now it's time to complain...

It wasn't mentioned, but I hope they give the maintenance facilities a facelift, otherwise the yellow and orange lots will still look fugly. To be honest, I'm not sure why they have to take up so much footprint on South campus. Rebuild those mofos down off South Industrial and put something cool where they are now. And build the lacrosse field at Elbel! ELBEL, MAN.

Why do we keep moving everything so far away from campus? I lived in Fletcher freshman year and State/Hoover senior year and I still don't know how many soccer and lacrosse games I would've went to with the fields all the way out there...

Wow, that is a really impressive upgrade. I'm really interested to see what they end up doing with the walk of champions -- though I fully expect to see a program where you can put your name on a brick for $50.

Not only do the revisions and renovations look pretty good, particularly the Walk Of Champions (can't wait to walk it), but it is better for the university and better for the city of Ann Arbor really if we build competitive facilities that allow the school and the city to be a destination for more than just select events like Michigan football inside the Big Ten, at least more often than it is. It also looks like this will help mitigate some of the pedestrian and vehicle traffic issues for some events (not all of them), which will help. One of the biggest drawbacks to South Campus was the relative lack of connectivity, and this seems like it will help.

Like the Fritz Crisler quote in the Schembechler photo - "Tradition is something you can't bottle. You can't buy it at the corner store...". If that is in the lobby, it's a great way to introduce people to the program.